Chapter 116: The Small Winery

  Ye Pingyu spoke some words about developing the economy at the meeting, trying to draw everyone's attention and put their energy into economic development. However, the township leaders who were used to working with old thinking obviously had no ideological preparation.

  Although the slogan of developing economy is constantly being raised, the main work in the countryside is still to do some routine tasks. The development of economy can only be mentioned when writing summary reports, counting the numbers of economic growth and then reporting to the county, that's all. As for how to develop the economy and promote economic growth, it can only be parroted, with documents implementing documents, and meetings implementing meetings.

  There is no talent for developing the economy, everyone is used to relying on relief to get by, as long as Caolingzi Township exists, the county will not let it go bankrupt, so developing the economy and whatnot is just a word game, fooling the county leaders is enough, who can really focus on studying economics?

  When Ye Pingyu finished speaking, no one else responded. Only Ding Jianliang understood him and said: "Ye Shangchang's proposal is good. Our winery really needs to develop now. If we can get a large investment, I guarantee that the winery will be operational again. Compared with other towns, our town's industry is too backward. Without industry, there is no tax revenue, without tax revenue, there is no money, and our lives are not good. If we really put all our energy into economic development and think of ways to solve the difficulties in economic development, I guarantee that our town's industry will develop."

  Ding Jianliang is the deputy secretary in charge of industry, and every time he goes to the county to attend a meeting, his face is always gloomy. The industrial output value of other people's places is staggering, while Caolingzi Township is almost zero. When it comes to calculating GDP, the township can only rack its brains and include the chickens, ducks, and geese raised by rural residents in the statistics. However, no matter how many chickens, ducks, and geese are raised, their output value is still limited. It's not even comparable to the daily output value of other people's enterprises.

  Although he wanted to develop the economy, unfortunately, there was no one in the village leadership who shared his vision. He thought of going outside to attract some businesses and projects, but no one supported him. Cao Dafu, a secretary of the village committee who grew up from the grassroots, only cared about maintaining stability in the village. As long as life could go on smoothly, there was no need to take unnecessary risks. He thought that Ding Jianliang's attempt to attract businesses by spending money was just taking unnecessary risks, and it might not even work, and someone might get cheated. However, this was not the main reason. The main reason was that the overall environment for attracting businesses had not yet taken shape, and no one wanted to take that risk.

  Cao Dafu didn't support him, and Zhao Yuangong also didn't have the ability in this aspect, he just verbally supported him a bit. When it came to doing something real, he backed down. In short, the village had no money, wanted to develop the economy, think of ways to get the money yourself, don't look for him.

  Whenever this matter is mentioned, Ding Jianliang feels very frustrated. It's not that he's incompetent, but the support from his hometown is too weak, and he has no enthusiasm at all. But now Ye Pingyu suddenly brought up this issue on his own initiative, which made him feel enlightened, so he responded to Ye Pingyu's speech, feeling like he had found a kindred spirit.

  When Ye Pingyu heard Ding Jianliang's words, he also felt a little surprised. As the deputy secretary of industry in the countryside, he had been doing it for so many years without achieving anything. He couldn't help but doubt Ding Jianliang's ability. That small winery had always been in his hands, and now it was almost bankrupt. If he had any skills, how could it have ended up like this?

  It turned out that this was what he had been thinking, but now only he responded to his own words. If there were prejudices against him, then there would be no one available in the countryside. So after Ding Jianliang finished speaking, he took over and said: "Secretary Ding, does your winery still have production capacity? Can it still work?"

  Ding Jianliang patted his chest and said, "Now the main problem is the lack of investment. As long as we have investment, we can update our equipment a bit and provide semi-finished products to large distilleries. The annual output value will be at least several million, and the tax revenue will be at least over a million. For our village, this is also a considerable income."

  When he heard this, the Discipline Inspection Secretary Liu Guotang couldn't help but laugh and say: "Old Ding, your winery can produce a few hundred million in output value every year? I see that all the equipment is rusty, what else can you produce?"

  Liu Guo didn't believe him, Ding Jianliang said excitedly: "The equipment is rusty, but some are not. As long as we update the rusty equipment and continue production, there's no problem at all! Old Liu, you don't understand things, don't talk nonsense!"

  Liu Guodong smiled and didn't say anything more. Anyway, he felt that Ding Jianliang was talking big all day, just like those bosses who liked to brag. If the factory was so easy to manage, why hadn't he achieved anything in such a long time?

  But Ye Pingyu felt that it was better to keep the matter under wraps for the time being, so he thought for a moment before saying: "Secretary Ding, go back and write a report, bring it back for Secretary Zhao and me to take a look. If the winery can still be revived, we'll think of ways to revive it. We don't care about its output value, as long as it can operate and support people, that's good enough."

  After saying this, Ye Pingyu looked at Zhao Yuankong and said: "Secretary Zhao, what do you think?"

  Zhao Yuangong sat there for half a day without speaking, thinking about the meaning behind Ye Pingyu's words. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Ye Pingyu was still too young and lacked experience, saying some things that were not in line with reality. Developing the economy is of course a good thing, but just talking big without taking action is useless. Who doesn't want to develop the economy? But where do you start? Like Ding Jianliang? Probably even if he worked at it his whole life, it would be useless.

  Seeing Ye Pingyu speaking to him, Zhao Yuangong smiled and said: "The idea of Little Leaf Village Chief is good, I don't object. If Jianliang Secretary can revive the winery, this will be one of his merits. There's no need to write a report, just take a look at the scene, it's just that simple."

  Zhao Yuankong called out the head of Xiaoye Township, with a hint of disdain in his tone. If Ye Pingyu had performed well just now, but what he said about developing the economy showed his immaturity, which made Zhao look down on him, and it might end up being a joke.

  Ye Pingyu didn't mind his title, after hearing his words, feeling that it would be better to take a look at the scene, said: "Secretary Zhao, why don't we go and take a look later?"

  Zhao Yuangong said, "You can just go and take a look yourself, I've seen it before. Besides, you should pay more attention to economic development, I won't bother with it anymore. There are many things going on in the countryside, you can grasp some of the economic aspects."

  Zhao Yuangong seemed to be pushing the responsibility of developing the economy onto Ye Pingyu, but when Ye Pingyu heard this, he didn't think Zhao was intentionally trying to make a fool out of him. Instead, he actively accepted the challenge and started researching ways to develop the economy, determined to change the face of Caolingzi Township.

  The meeting finally ended, and as soon as he returned to the office, Ding Jianliang followed him in. Seeing him come in, Ye Pingyu asked him to sit down and introduce the wine factory's situation, to see if there was a way to revive it.

  Ding Jianliang briefed him on the situation. After listening to his introduction, Ye Pingyu couldn't help but feel uneasy and got up with him to take a look at the scene.

  When Ye Pingyu arrived at the small winery on the south side of the big courtyard, he walked inside and took a look. He saw that it was piled up with garbage and didn't have any resemblance to a winery. He felt very unhappy about this. This state is useless no matter how much money is invested. Liu Guodong was right, all the equipment had rusted away. Whoever came would not dare to invest more money after seeing this!

  Seeing Ye Pingyu's poor complexion, Ding Jianliang hastily introduced: "Director Ye, it's been a long time since anyone came here, and it looks very dilapidated. But with investment, I guarantee everything will get better."

  Ye Pingyu is not a fool, on the one hand he has ideals and ambitions, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to be practical and realistic. Like the current situation with the winery, investment can't be attracted, and banks are definitely unwilling to lend money, where can he get the funds?

  "Director Ding, if we don't find an investor, can you get the factory up and running?" Ye Pingyu asked after some thought.

  Ding Jianliang immediately looked embarrassed and said: "If there is no investment, we don't even have the money to buy raw materials, let alone start production. Not to mention that repairing equipment also requires money. Mayor Ye, we must think of a way to borrow some money from the bank and get it up and running!"

  "Are there banks willing to lend us money?"

  Ding Jianliang said: "The bank asked us to provide a mortgage, originally Secretary Cao disagreed with our mortgaging the government's housing, if he agreed, we could actually get some loans."

  As soon as he said that, Ye Pingyu said: "This is not a good decision for me either, the countryside doesn't have money to invest in you, see if you can collect some capital and set up a joint venture or something?"

  Ding Jianliang immediately said: "Who is willing to raise funds? It's not easy to find a joint venture, the key is that there is no money. If there is money, everything will be fine."

  Ye Pingyu thought that if it were just a matter of money, he wouldn't be worried about becoming like this now. After messing around for half a day, it was all useless things. He had to reconsider the development of the economy.

  "Director Ding, I think it's best to do it this way for now. It's good that we want someone to invest, but at least we need to have a foundation first. The winery has declined to such an extent, and I'm afraid no one will be willing to invest. You should find a way to renovate the winery and make it look like something, then recruit some workers, at least there's some atmosphere. As long as there's atmosphere, this business will be easy to do. If there's no atmosphere, even if we invest a lot of money, it won't work."

  I didn't expect Ye Pingyu to have this view, Ding Jianliang was speechless for a moment. Although he is ambitious, he is somewhat unrealistic and not practical. He doesn't consider himself as a real entrepreneur, but rather still positions himself as an official. With this mindset, it's impossible to focus on the factory wholeheartedly. In the future, even if someone invests, they will likely end up losing money.

  Ye Pingyu saw through some of his ideas and decided that he couldn't completely follow him. He thought it was good to develop the economy, but he also didn't want to be deceived and become a laughing stock.